Hi,
There is this very interesting question (Case). A company that is the sole provider of a specific market (Monopoly), and recently the government has allowed competition to enter the market, what key factors would you consider in looking at how this company can minimize the competition impact?
Excited to hear your thoughts.
Hi,
There are many examples of this (British Telecom, Royal Mail etc.)
There are many approaches, one is below
Leverage/protect current advantages that we have that are hard to access
1. Customer base - we have access to customers that we can start to offer deals, reach out directly to to speak about our advantages vs competitors etc.
2. Infrastructure where applicable - many such industries have huge infrastructure investments that allow them to be monopolies - depending on the terms of the opening up some of this can be leveraged for their own gain
3. Existing knowledge of processes - it takes time for new comers to get up to speed and get set up etc. As an incumbent you have a significant head start here
4. Inherent bias against change - people don't want change, it upsets their routine. Make it hard to change for customers
Minimize/close the gaps with external competitors
1. Customer service - rapidly expand to meet industry criteria
2. High financial burden - often monopolies are ladled with debt, pension costs and low productivity and these need to be addressed head on
3. R&D - not enough incentive to innovate. You could acquire a company in another country for quick expertize
You can further map these against internal capabilities to prioritize different initiatives
Hope the helps,
Udayan
(edited)
Hi there,
This is a great question!
I tend to avoid generic frameworks, but this is a very good time to use the 3 Cs!
Company
Customer
Competition
Hello!
I would need to know a bit more regarding the case specifics, industry, etc. to give you a better guidance.
However, with what you wrote, this is very clearly a PRODUCT case, in which you need to see:
They key of the case is going to be precisely on that match of CLIENT - PRODUCT.
Hope it helps!
Cheers,
Clara
